1. Field of Use
One piece garments exist for men, women and children for a variety of functional and fashionable uses. For example, in present disclosure pertains generally to one-piece clothing, such as coveralls, overalls, bib overalls, biberalls, personal protective clothing bibs and overalls, athletic bibs, ski bibs, snowsuits, jumpsuits and the like, and more specifically, to this style of clothing configured or modified to permit restroom breaks or attending to other individual needs without being required to partially or fully remove the garment.
When wearing an ordinary one piece garment a person must partially or completely remove the garment to take care of individual needs. The partial or complete removal of the garment is time consuming, difficult, frustrating, embarrassing, and can be a safety and health risk.
2. Background Technology
Jumpsuits are generally regarded as a garment of convenience, as they are simpler to launder, put on and remove than an ensemble outfit. Unless the jumpsuit has a drop seat, however, it is necessary to remove it entirely for bathroom use. Numerous jumpsuit designs have appeared for work and leisure applications. Various designs of jumpsuits have been developed and patented. Several jumpsuits with drop seats have been proposed. For example U.S. Pat. No. 1,537,230 (Godbehere) discloses a jumpsuit having a drop seat secured at its upper edge by a belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,209 (George) relates to a unitary garment which includes an upper and lower portion. The upper and lower portions of the unitary garment are configured to fit the top and bottom of a human torso respectively. The lower portion further includes a detachable drop-seat panel which is fastened along its side edges toward the front of the unitary garment and in the pocket area. The unitary garment further includes two pockets associated with the lower portion such that the pockets are configured to substantially conceal the fastening means and resulting fastened side edges of the drop-seat panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,774 (Spaulding) discloses a jumpsuit having a drop seat secured at its upper edge by a belt and; a jumpsuit having a sliding fastener that extends from the inside of one ankle to the inside of the other ankle along the normal inseam of the garment; and a jumpsuit having a sliding fastener that extends along a vertical seam from the neck on front, downward through the crotch region, and then back up to the neck in back.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,026 (Sampey) discloses a jumpsuit garment with integral drop seat flap secured at its upper edge by a belt with additional hook and loop fastening behind the belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,025 (Meryash) discloses a jump suit with a rear drop-seat panel that opens downwardly. The suit has a flexible panel mounted across the inside front portion thereof to define pockets therewith. The panel further extends on either side of the suit to define tapered flaps which overlap around the rear portion of the suit near the waist and under the drop-seat panel when it is raised to the closed position. The overlapped flaps are joined by attaching means such as VELCRO and the drop-seat panel has attaching means thereon such as VELCRO or zippers which engage matching fasteners on proximate portions of the flaps when the panel is closed over the flaps. The overlapped flaps supplement the strength of the jump suit and enhance the fit thereof and reduce draftiness at the seams of the drop-seat panel. Meryash discloses a jumpsuit with drop seat in which underflaps overlap inside the drop seat flap to enhance the fit of the jumpsuit and to reinforce the jumpsuit in this area with the drop seat panel up or down and also prevent the suit from being “drafty” or open at the panel edges when the drop seat panel is raised in the closed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,581 (Wong) discloses a unitary garment with a modified and improved drop-seat which is not overtly detectable by the casual observer. The rear portion of the garment is constructed with two plies of fabric. The inner ply contains a teardrop-shaped aperture (Wong 12) bounded by elastic around the perimeter. The outer ply incorporates a trapezoidal-shaped lappet (Wong 20) with elasticized sides. The combination of these two innovations enables a heretofore unachievable style line which closely conforms to body contours. Due to the elastic tension around the perimeter the aperture is relatively static in relation to the buttocks and upper thigh thereby allowing the wearer freedom of movement during toilet and personal hygiene activities without fear of inadvertently wetting or soiling the garment. Multiple styling embodiments are possible (e.g., jumpsuit, culottes, shorts, formal-, casual-, sports-wear, et al).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,780 (Zen) discloses a one-piece body suit (cat suit or jump suit or romper) that has a rear drop-seat portion. That portion is formed with a central panel and two opposite triangular panels extending therefrom which cross each other at the front of the garment. Fastener ends at the ends of the triangular panels are removably fastened at the back of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,584 (Matthews) discloses a jump suit having features effective for both male and female users that includes a central zippered opening extends downward from waistband along the crotch between left and right pants legs. A main zipper controlled by a pair of keepers and opens and closes the opening, which extends from the waistband in front to an upper end in the back located slightly above the waistband. This enables opening over the hips when a user is relieving himself. A large lapel on the front of the garment is movable by being folded from a first position where the lapel extends outward to one shoulder without crossing the center to a second position where the lapel extends toward the other shoulder and covers strip of a central vertical vent. Several vents and covering strips removably controlled by zippers are provided around the periphery of a main back panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,182 (Fiveash) discloses a jumpsuit with a dropseat panel concealed by a folded pocket panel. When the dropseat is opened, the upper free edge of the pocket has a length selected such that it controls movement of the dropseat panel and its attached waistband, maintaining the waistband in contact with the wearer's body whereby the waistband cannot fall into a toilet.